Stardust.

Netflix is just…. sucking up all my time bwahahha.

I first “met” Charlie Cox (and Henry Cavill, actually) in this wonderful little film. It was Michelle Pfeiffer’s comeback role, it had also been a long time since I’d seen Claire Danes, and Robert De Niro played a gay pirate. I mean… what else can you ask for? Oh! And it’s adapted from a Neil Gaiman book. OH! AND! The song at the very end, when the credits are playing? TAKE THAT <3

This was the first film I watched with Matthew Vaughn as director. I knew him as a producer (and also as Claudia Schiffer’s husband) (only because she was my favourite 90s supermodel – her and Bridget Hall) of films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels… but I never realised he directed too. And with zero exception, I have liked every single one of the films that he’s directed since Stardust. (If you want the list, it’s Stardust then Kick-Ass – which was KICK ASS – then X-Men First Class, then Kingsman: The Secret Service. I mean come on. What a list!!!)

Anyhoo. I’d read the Neil Gaiman book so long ago, I remembered it was a fairy tale for adults, but I didn’t really remember the details of the story. So I watched this film – funnily enough, it was the last film I watched with the ex before we went our separate ways… he didn’t want to see it, but he ended up loving it… I think he took the girl he was cheating on me with to see it afterwards hahaha ahem moving on – at Pacific Place (I still remember, ten years on!) and I stinking loved it. And then I went home and re-read the book, and the book is still better. The story is better (changes were made to fit the big screen) in the book, less Hollywoody you know, but still. The film is great! And I’ve been a big Charlie Cox fan ever since. And now he’s bloody Daredevil <3

So yeah. I love that Stardust is on Netflix. I think I might have to rewatch it more than a few times :D Bwahaha… And also, just because I can… here’s the song <3

Paycheck.

So… this is one of those films that nobody in my social circle liked, but which I quite enjoyed back in the day. But watching it today, I was like… wow. Yeah. It really wasn’t that great. Kinda like So Close…

Anyway. Paycheck was directed by John Woo, starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, and is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. I really want to read the short story. The story is great, the film’s execution is… a bit off. I don’t know. I can’t pinpoint what is wrong with it.

But the most interesting thing for me, is that when rewatching this film, I FINALLY realised where I know Rowan (Olivia Pope’s dad) from!! From Paycheck!!!!!

Anyhoo. I still love action films, and this is sort of an action film, and the premise is great… I just wish I liked it now as much as I did before… Maybe sometimes rewatching films isn’t such a great idea…

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

I don’t remember if I’ve already posted about this film… but I will say that I don’t understand all the bad press. I loved it!

Chris Pine as Jack Ryan was pretty awesome. It was interesting to see Keira Knightley in it – there are so many American actresses, why hire a Brit to play an American? But her accent was pretty good and she was a good fit. Kenneth Branagh playing a Russian, that was interesting. He was flawless, as he always is, and then I was surprised to find out he was the director as well. Interesting.

So essentially, I really enjoyed this film. I loved the story, loved the action, the pacing is great, and it’s just an all-round fun action movie. So yeah. I wish it had done better because I would have liked to see a sequel… But hey. I also really wish there could be a RED3… so it is what it is…

Michael Jackson’s This Is It.

It’s been almost eight years since MJ’s sudden passing…. He really was King of Pop. Such an incredible talent… There’s only one Michael Jackson.

Watching the film, which is comprised mostly of rehearsals, it’s so heart wrenching to see the dreams of the dancers shattered (they couldn’t believe they were about to share a stage with the one and only MJ), and to see the sweat, blood, and tears that went into the production – from the videos to the costumes to the dances to the incredible music… Sigh.

I’m also super thankful for the film, because it introduced the world to the gorgeousness that is Judith Hill. Yeah.

Ten Years.

Ten things about Ten Years:

1. Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum are so damn cute together.
2. Rosario Dawson and Channing Tatum make a surprisingly good (ex)-couple.
3. Chris Pratt was not hot back then. At all.
4. High school reunions are damn scary.
5. The Justin Long / Max Minghella storyline was super annoying until they got real. Which then became quite sweet, and made the annoying part make sense. But still. Too annoying.
6. When the girls scream when they see each other, I cringed. Because it’s true. Girls scream when they see each other. I don’t, for the life of me, understand why.
7. Pretzels is an awesome name for a karaoke bar. Haha.
8. The story is quite meh… but…
9. Kate Mara is a fantastic actress and Oscar Isaac has a beautiful voice.
10. Yellow shoes are awesome.

Sense and Sensibility.

I grew up a huge fan of British literature. From Jane Austen to the Brontë sisters to Charles Dickens to George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson and Ian McEwan, George Orwell, CS Lewis… The list is unending.

When Sense & Sensibility came out back in the 90s (1990s!!!), I remember being quite excited because I was going through an Austen binge at the time. I was at boarding school, and watched it at the cinema with Elissa – to this day, I don’t know why she chose to watch it with me, but I’m very grateful!! I was so in love with Kate Winslet and so in love with Hugh Grant, and Greg Wise was so handsome but how could he have given up love for money!!! The last shot of Greg Wise (as Willoughby) watching the love of his life marry another man from afar, then turning his horse away and riding out of their life… Oh my heart.

Yeah okay I’m a hopeless romantic. Hopeless.

Anyway. It wasn’t until much later on that I realised how beautifully Ang Lee had directed this film, how he had tread the fine delicate line of restraint. And while I fully understand how difficult it must have been for the actors to work with a Taiwanese man, whose culture is completely different, to work on a traditional, classic British story… I do think that whoever it was who hired Lee was one helluva genius. Lee is perfect for all things understated, for things of duty and restraint and… just incredible.

I love that this film is on Netflix. Think I might have to re-watch it again soon :D

Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Yeah okay. So when this film came out, I remember the hype. And it wasn’t that I didn’t think they were both hot, but… maybe I had been expecting too much because I didn’t really think it was that good.

But well, I re-watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith today, and… while it’s still not amazing, it’s not as bad as I remember either. And only because of the performances of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The story is still kinda lame. I mean, it’s one we’ve heard over and over again, but yeah.

I can’t think of any Doug Liman films I really liked. I guess The Bourne Identity…. Hm. I should re-watch the Bournes. Hm. I wonder if they are on Netflix… ahhahaha…

Star Trek: Into Darkness.

I remember, when I watched it at the cinema, that I thought it wasn’t quite as good as the first one (sequels never are as good… actually that’s not true. Empire Strikes Back is better. Aliens is probably better (sorry Ridley Scott). The Dark Knight is probably better – although I loved loved loved Batman Begins. Captain America: Winter Solider is infinitely better… Yeah anyway. I digress.) But re-watching it (thanks Netflix!) I actually really, really enjoyed it. It’s not clunky and overly complex – although perhaps I only think this way because it’s my second viewing, so I already have the basic gist in my brain…

So Into Darkness is just as exciting as the original (by original I mean the 2009 JJ Abrams version haha), and the script and dialogue just as punchy as well. The best thing is that the full cast came back from the first one (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Bruce Greenwood… even Leonard Nimoy came back for a cameo!) and Alice Eve and Benedict Cumberbatch are pretty awesome additions as well.

Anyhow. I’m hoping the new one (Star Trek Beyond) comes to Netflix soon… I am really looking forward to rewatching that one too :D

And in case you were wondering… yes I like Star Trek more than Star Wars, always have. Just sayin’. And here is one of my favourite DVD extras things from the set of Into Darkness:

So Close.

Also known as 夕陽天使, directed by the wonderful Cory Yuen (wikipedia spells his name wrong *evil eye*), and starring the beautiful Shu Qi, Karen Mok and Vicky Zhao.

When So Close came out in 2002, I loved it. Cory has a magic wand when it comes to shooting girls in action films – he makes them looks so freaking hot! I remember thinking the storyline was a bit lame, but the sister relationship between Lynn (Shu Qi) and Sue (Vicky Zhao) was damn touching, and Karen Mok is awesome in pretty much anything. Watching the film now, 15 years later, the storyline is actually hella lame, and the dialogue is pretty bad (although both Shu & Zhao are dubbed into Cantonese so maybe it wouldn’t sound so bad in Mando?! I don’t even remember what language I watched it in all those years ago hahaha) but the girls are still hot and the action is still fun.

So yeah. I guess this is one of those films that really don’t hold up well… but hey. It wasn’t so bad that I wanted to stop watching it (do you see how low the bar has gotten now because of that damned idiotic Cameron Crowe film!!! Bah!!!!!!)

I miss working with Cory. Hope he is well :)

Knight and Day.

So I watched this because I just dissed it a couple of posts ago, and I felt like I didn’t remember it enough to make an accurate assessment…

But I was right. It wasn’t spectacularly awful (I mean come on, I just watched Aloha… ugh) but… I wouldn’t count it among the good ones in the many, many films Tom Cruise has made in the past 12 years (such as Collateral, Tropic Thunder, Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher, the Mission Impossibles… I feel like I’m repeating myself haha).

Anyway. Cameron Diaz is playing the usual Cameron Diaz role – a little ditzy but hella kick ass when she has to be – and TC is playing the usual TC role – army trained, majorly kick ass, good heart… The story is formulaic maybe only because I read too many crime thrillers, but the jokes are funny, and the action is pretty fun too.

So… not awful, but not amazing either. Maybe a good movie to put on in the background while I continue to practice my letters… Haha.